page_title: The Peninsula Hong Kong
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: The Peninsula Hong Kong / History
caption_attribution_description: The hotel front door of The Peninsula, TST, Kowloon, Hong Kong By Leung Sin T S TSO
context_page_description: The Peninsula Hong Kong, is a colonial-style luxury hotel located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong, is the flagship property of The Peninsula Hotels group, part of the Hong Kong And Shanghai Hotels Group. The hotel opened in 1928, and was the first under The Peninsula brand. Expanded in 1994, the hotel combines colonial and modern elements, and is notable for its large fleet of Rolls-Royces painted a distinctive "Peninsula green".
context_section_description: Founded by members of the Kadoorie family. The Peninsula was built with the idea that it would be "the finest hotel east of Suez". Originally planned for a 1924 opening, the hotel opened its doors in December 1928 and was the successor of Hongkong Hotel.  The Peninsula was located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong at the junction of Nathan Road and Salisbury Road, directly opposite the quays where ocean liner passengers disembarked. Kowloon was also the last stop on the trans-Siberian rail link that brought travellers from Europe.
  Following the opening of the hotel, The Peninsula held Sunday concerts, nightly dinners on the terrace and twice-weekly dinners in the Rose Room. Dinner dances were held every night, with regular Afternoon Tea Dances.  The Peninsula Hotel then became a popular meeting place for the entire community. It also started to  become a place to spot famous celebrities. Charlie Chaplin and Paulette Goddard, who were Hollywood stars of the 1930s classic Modern Times, were the guests of the hotel. 
  On 25 December 1941, at the end of the Battle of Hong Kong, British colonial officials led by the Governor of Hong Kong, Sir Mark Aitchison Young, surrendered in person at the Japanese headquarters on the third floor of The Peninsula. The Governor was confined for two months in one of the hotel suites before being transferred to a prison in Shanghai. The resort was then renamed "Tōa Hotel" (東亜ホテル, "East Asia Hotel"), and the rooms were reserved for Japanese officers and high-ranking dignitaries, while Hong Kong sank into misery and destitution.
  In his book God Is My Co-Pilot, Colonel Robert Lee Scott, Jr., USAAF, commander of the 23d Fighter Group, China Air Task Force, described in detail an aerial raid he led on the Japanese shipping anchored in Hong Kong harbour, conducted 25 October 1942, and the lone attack he personally made in his Curtiss P-40K Warhawk (nicknamed Old Exterminator) upon the famous Peninsula Hotel:
  "So I looped above Victoria Harbor and dove for the Peninsula Hotel. My tracers ripped into the shining plateglass of the penthouses on its top, and I saw the broken windows cascade like snow to the streets, many floors below. I laughed, for I knew that behind those windows were Japanese high officers, enjoying that modern hotel. When I got closer I could see uniformed figures going down the fire escapes, and I shot at them...I turned for one more run on the packed fire escapes filled with Jap soldiers, but my next burst ended very suddenly. I was out of ammunition."
  It was restored to its original name after Japan was defeated and the British regained control of the colony. The hotel today is part of the Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels group headed by Sir Michael Kadoorie, and is the flagship property of The Peninsula Hotels group.
  In 1994, an extension was added to the original hotel in the form of a 30-storey tower, which is topped off by a helipad.
caption: The main entrance
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